Verses on Dhamma 26.32.p2

26.32.p2

Sāvatthiyaṃ kireko kulaputto sundarasamuddakumāro nāma cattālīsakoṭivibhave mahākule nibbatto. So ekadivasaṃ pacchābhattaṃ gandhamālādihatthaṃ mahājanaṃ dhammassavanatthāya jetavanaṃ gacchantaṃ disvā ‘‘kahaṃ gacchathā’’ti pucchitvā ‘‘satthu santikaṃ dhammassavanatthāyā’’ti vutte ‘‘ahampi gamissāmī’’ti vatvā tena saddhiṃ gantvā parisapariyante nisīdi. Satthā tassa āsayaṃ viditvā anupubbiṃ kathaṃ kathesi. So ‘‘na sakkā agāraṃ ajjhāvasantena saṅkhalikhitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ caritu’’nti satthu dhammakathaṃ nissāya pabbajjāya jātussāho parisāya pakkantāya satthāraṃ pabbajjaṃ yācitvā ‘‘mātāpitūhi ananuññātaṃ tathāgatā na pabbājentī’’ti sutvā gehaṃ gantvā raṭṭhapālakulaputtādayo viya mahantena vāyāmena mātāpitaro anujānāpetvā satthu santike pabbajitvā laddhūpasampado ‘‘kiṃ me idha vāsenā’’ti tato nikkhamitvā rājagahaṃ gantvā piṇḍāya caranto vītināmesi.

At Sāvatthi, we are told, in a great household possessing forty crores of treasure, was reborn a certain youth of station named Ocean-of-Beauty, Sundarasamudda Kumāra. One day after breakfast, seeing a great company of people with perfumes and garlands in their hands, going to Jetavana to hear the Law, he asked, "Where are you going?" "To the Teacher to hear the Law," they replied. "I will go too," said he, and accompanying them, sat down in the outer circle of the congregation. The Teacher, knowing the thoughts of his heart, preached the Law in orderly sequence. Thought Ocean-of-Beauty, "It is impossible to live the life of a householder and at the same time live the Life of Holiness, whereof a polished shell is the image and likeness."

The Teacher's discourse made him eager to retire from the world. Therefore, as the congregation departed, he asked the Teacher to admit him to the Order. Said the Teacher, "The Tathāgatas admit no one to the Order who has not first obtained permission of his mother and father." So Ocean-of-Beauty went home, and like the youth Raṭṭhapāla and others, by dint of great effort, prevailed upon his mother and father to give him permission to enter the Order. Having obtained their permission, he retired from the world and was admitted to the Order by the Teacher. Subsequently he made his full profession as a member of the Order. Then he thought to himself, "What is the use of my living here?" So departing from Jetavana, he went to Rājagaha and spent his time going his rounds for alms.